It didn't take long for Iverson to start bitching about his new role coming off the bench for the Pistons. Here's what he said after Tuesday night's loss to the Cavs:

"How many minutes did I play?" Told 18 minutes, he said, "Damn." When asked to clarify his feelings he said: "Nah, it felt way, way less than that. "Eighteen minutes, c'mon, man. I can play 18 minutes with my eyes closed, with a 100-pound truck on my back. That's a bad feeling. "I'm wondering what the rush was to get me back. I mean, for that?"

This is exactly what all Pistons fans were afraid of when the news was first announced that Iverson would be coming off the bench after he returned from his back injury. Iverson said all the right things throughout the course of his injury to make fans feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but we should have known it wasn't going to last very long.

Rip was benched earlier this season, presumably because the Pistons knew that Iverson wouldn't take it well and cause problems. When Iverson went down with a back injury, and as a result of the Pistons losing and Rip's great play, it was announced that Iverson would come off the bench when he returned.

To give Iversone SOME credit, he did sort of back his comments up with, "I'm just trying to get through it without starting a bunch of nonsense," but the complaints and phone call to the whambulance had already been made.

Chip had a really good quote this morning in response to AI's post-game whining:

Maybe stop grimacing about your fake back injury every time you go to the hoop and then you will get more playing time.